The Chosen Navi
by RandyPandy
Summary: Yuuichiro Hikari decides that his son, Hub, needs a name more befitting a NetNavi, and asks CopyMan for help. Neither of them were prepared for the name the most unbiased third party would select. Only the Chosen Ones were supposed to be named after him, after all, so why was that going to be Hub's name? Sort of a followup to my fics Little Problems and Am I a Twin? -Pre-BN-


_**Disclaimer:** I do not own MegaMan. It belongs to Capcom._

 _ **Timeline:** Pre-Battle Network 1, before Lan receives MegaMan._

 _ **Notes:** Somewhat of a followup to Little Problems and the flashback in Am I a Twin? though you don't need to have read those to understand this fic._

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 **The Chosen Navi**

* * *

Six years had gone by since the fateful day that CopyMan had witnessed his operator transform his son into a NetNavi. He still wasn't completely sure about the ethics of the situation – then again, what did he know about ethics? He was one of the most powerful Navis in the _Undernet_ now – but Dr. Hikari seemed happy, Haruka seemed happy, Hub seemed happy, and Lan seemed happy.

Lan, of course, was blissfully unaware that he had even _had_ a twin, as far as CopyMan knew. The boy had just turned eight years old and while he had seemed fairly down lately, Dr. Hikari had promised him that he would not only be at home soon, but that he would also get him an _extremely_ special gift. This had cheered the boy right up, and his parents hadn't had the heart to ask whether his upset was due to him being bullied in school or something else.

"So," CopyMan said, bemusedly eyeing his operator from his perch on some data blocks. "What is this… _special_ thing that you're getting him?"

Yuuichiro's face was a mask of concentration, his hair askew, and his glasses immaculately clean due to him wiping them every once in awhile, as he worked on Hub's programming; the man had been doing that a lot lately, but Hub was a growing Navi and needed a lot of maintenance. Now the same age as Lan, he had gone from a cherubic toddler to a young boy.

"I've been wondering for a long time what I was going to be doing with Hub once he got older," Yuuichiro admitted, glancing down at his son's still form; the young Navi was in sleep mode and not aware of the conversation. "But I've finally decided."

"You have?" CopyMan asked, tilting his head.

The scientist sat back in his chair, closing his eyes for a moment. "…Lan has been asking me for a Navi for _forever_ , ever since he was old enough to understand the concept of having one." CopyMan knew that; Lan had demanded to play with him several times as a small child. "I didn't want to simply get him a commercial Navi, not when I could program a much better one. But I haven't had time to work on a Navi for him, and why should I? Not when I have a Navi right here that needs an operator that I can trust to take care of him."

CopyMan frowned, and then turned to look at Hub. "Wait… are you thinking…?"

"I'm going to put Hub in Lan's care," Dr. Hikari told him. "Lan excels at strategy and virus-busting, even without a Navi, and Hub is extremely skilled and careful, and they'll temper each other's bad habits with their good ones. They'd be a good match for each other, and…"

"And?"

"The relationship between twins is special; twins should always be together if they can be." Yuuichiro's voice was firm on that manner. "Once I'm done tweaking Hub's programming, I'll let him boot and tell him. He's always been interested in how Lan was growing, so I don't think he'll protest going to be his Navi."

CopyMan shook his head. "That's a great idea and all, doc, but you're forgetting something."

Yuuichiro, who had gone back to fiddling with Hub's programming, glanced over at his Navi again. "Hm?"

"His name," CopyMan said flatly.

"His name?" the man repeated, sounding a little puzzled.

Sometimes, CopyMan swore that there was so much knowledge on network society crammed into Yuuichiro Hikari's head that whatever common sense had been there in his youth had completely flown out through one ear. "Yes, his name. Do you _realize_ how many people knew that you had twin kiddos named Hub and Lan? Far too many!"

Yuuichiro paused, suddenly sheepish-looking. "Right. But I simply could say that I decided to make a Navi based off of my son, couldn't I?"

"You could," CopyMan conceded. "But people would still question it, especially if someone finds out that you nicked Cossak's Pulse Transmission System, and there _are_ people that're smart enough to figure it all out. Do you _really_ want your reputation to get shattered because you were _human_ and wanted to save your son's life?"

"…" The man gave a deep sigh. "You're right. I suppose I should give him a more Navi-ish name. Do you have any suggestions? You're practically a parent to him, too."

"I've got an idea where I can look. What're you gonna program his weaponry to be?" CopyMan asked him. "Element?"

"Neutral element," Yuuichiro said, grimacing as he remembered that he programmed _weaponry_ for Hub. "He doesn't have anything too fancy. Standard Buster, and charged shot capabilities. I'm concerned if I give him anything extravagant, then he and Lan might get overconfident and get into trouble over their heads. He will get them if he needs them, but I'm going to store them on a batch file for now."

CopyMan opened a text file and jotted the parameters down, and then began browsing for an internet application, humming to himself. His operator blinked at him.

"What are you doing?" Yuuichiro asked.

"Random Navi name generator." CopyMan showed him the website.

"Wait. Isn't this a website used to generate names for fictional Navis when people are creating original characters for their novels and short stories? _That_ is your idea of where to look?" his operator asked in incredulity as CopyMan ticked the options that Dr. Hikari had given – mainly, the Neutral element and the Buster for a weapon, as well as Hub's personality traits.

"You got any better ideas, Doc?"

"…" Yuuichiro shook his head, and then went for his mouse to lightly bump CopyMan out of the way and glance through the name generator himself. "No, I'm sorry. You're right. This might be the best way to give him a more Navi-ish name. But you're also assuming that he'll be happy being renamed."

"Doc, with all due respect, he reminds me more of Haruka than he does you, which means that he probably has some common sense in his DNA. In other words, he'll probably accept a new name, at least for everyone else to call him," CopyMan said, his voice dry as he took a few steps back.

"Hey…"

"Now, you gonna click that 'Generate Name' button, or not?" the Navi asked.

"I'm just worried that I'm not going to like what it shows me," Yuuichiro said; in truth, he was antsy for some reason that he couldn't comprehend. Was it _really_ right to just leave his son's name to fate?

"Then click it again if you don't like what it spits out. Hurry up before I click the button myself!"

Before Yuuichiro could stop himself, he had quickly clicked on the 'Generate Name' button. While the name popped up almost instantaneously, it felt like an eternity to Yuuichiro, and his heart nearly flew out of his chest when he saw _what_ name the generator had decided fit the parameters.

No.

"…I can't name him that," Yuuichiro said, but he couldn't bring himself to click on the button again. CopyMan looked at the name that had appeared, and then whistled.

 _MegaMan._

"Geeze, Doc, generator gave you a _doozy_. I've heard about the superstition behind the name, but come on. He's not the one that's picking it. You're the one giving it to him, after something that _doesn't_ know the implications of that name picked it, and I doubt _he_ knows the superstition behind it," CopyMan pointed out.

Yuuichiro bit his lip. There _was_ a superstition behind the name – mainly that those that went by the name MegaMan were not allowed to choose the names themselves. They had to _be_ Chosen Ones, they had to be _selected_ to bear the burden of the name.

"What kind of pressure will I be putting on him, though?" he asked, bothered. "The Megamen were not just names, CopyMan. They were _gods_ , the _Chosen Ones_ , those _destined to change the world_ , the ones that challenged fate when it had to be stood up to. There's… there's a reason that no one has named their Navi 'MegaMan' yet."

"Dear _Master_ , Doc." CopyMan, exasperated, wished he was in the real world at the moment so that he could grab Yuuichiro's shoulders and shake him. "Don't you remember the stories? They had to be _selected_. And… I'm sorry. I know he's your son. But he _was_ selected just now, and there's nothing you can do about it. You _can_ click on the name generator again… but if he's supposed to be our time period's MegaMan, then you're out of luck, because he'll obtain the name either way."

Yuuichiro stared at the name for a few seconds longer, and then suddenly, clicked on the 'Generate Name' button again. The name blinked for a moment, but it didn't change. It still said 'MegaMan', as if _waiting_.

"Doc…"

"I suppose that is it, then." The scientist closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair. "Fate wants him to be MegaMan. …There's no choice for us to do anything but accept it." He opened his eyes and took his glasses off, before rubbing his face.

"CopyMan, there hasn't been a MegaMan in recorded history for at least 20,000 years, though there were plenty of them beforehand." At least, that was what historians and archaeologists argued upon looking at the evidence; the MegaMen had been rumored to appear just before huge disasters that were extinction event worthy struck, becoming the ones chosen to change the world. "I just want to know what approaching threat could be so extreme that the world _needs_ one suddenly. Even the Alpha Revolt didn't result in the appearance of one!"

That was a horrible thought – was Alpha going to _escape_ and be more dangerous than ever, now that his father wasn't around to stop it? Yuuichiro quickly shoved the thought out of his mind.

CopyMan eyed his operator oddly. "…You okay, Doc? This didn't break your brain, did it? C'mon, he's a kiddo, and he's a Navi. Nothing too horrible can happen, surely."

"There's nothing that I can do about it, though," Yuuichiro admitted. "You're right. If he's supposed to be our era's MegaMan, then me trying to change his name will only delay the inevitable." He opened up some menus on Hub's coding so that he could rename any portion with 'Hub exe' to 'MegaMan exe'. The majority of Hub's programming was, at least, going to be stored on the aforementioned batch file…

He took a deep breath, glancing over as CopyMan closed the name generator and began skimming lists of the known Undernet rankings. All ten (technically eleven) Navis on the ranking list were the most powerful SciLab or Official Navis, as far as they knew. Rank 1, of course, was the new Navi that Dr. Ura had designed, Serenade. Rank 2 was shared by Dr. Ura's and his wife's personal NetNavis, Bowlman and Mistman. Rank 3 was CopyMan himself. Ranks 4-10 were ordinary SciLab and Official Navis.

If Hub was the new MegaMan and Alpha escaping was the threat that he had to stop, it was entirely possible that he would have to go through the Undernet rankings to retrieve Giga Freeze. The Navis guarding it were extremely powerful; they had been placed their purposely to make sure that just _no one_ could get through it. A MegaMan, however, probably _could_.

No, no.

He had to stop thinking about it.

"Done," Yuuichiro whispered, closing Hub's programming. "Hub… no, MegaMan… is ready to be given to his brother."

CopyMan closed his own file, and tucked it away. "Wake the kid up then." He remembered the few times that Cossak's Navi, Doc, would help him watch Hub, and somewhat wished he was here; but after Cossak had left SciLab in disgrace after the Alpha Revolt and the failure of the Bass project, the man's Navi had simply disappeared into the Internet somewhere.

"In a moment," Yuuichiro said, his voice quiet still. "I need time to fully process the fate my son is going to have."

CopyMan decided to let his operator be; he wasn't a parent – Navis couldn't _have_ children, unless one counted having copies of their programming modified into a new being. Yuuichiro had always been a little strange, but his utter devotion to his family had completely changed.

And yet, even he couldn't deny that he was starting to feel a little apprehensive. He remembered the tiny, brown-eyed Navi toddling after him, running off into the networks chasing Mettools, being entertained and then brought home by kindhearted Navis. He wanted nothing more than to grab the boy that used to be that bundle of hyper, lock him on a webpage somewhere, and keep him safe.

Maybe this was what it felt like to be a father.

* * *

 _As mentioned, this was a followup to my fics Little Problems (featuring CopyMan dealing with a young Hub's antics) as well as Am I a Twin? where in a flashback, Lan finds out about his dead twin. This takes place almost directly after that flashback._

 _If you guys are wondering about the allusions to all the other Mega Man series… then you might be on to something. :)_


End file.
